Can sellers reply to Amazon reviews? What’s allowed in 2026
No. Amazon discontinued public comments under product reviews at the end of 2020, so sellers can no longer reply on the detail page. Brand owners enrolled in Brand Registry may contact buyers who left critical reviews through Amazon’s own templated tool, and sellers may reply to seller feedback. Asking anyone to change or remove a review remains prohibited.
On this page
- There is no public reply under a product review any more.
- Brand-registered sellers have a templated contact route for 1–3 star reviews.
- Any request to change or delete a review breaks Amazon’s rules, however politely it is phrased.
What happened to the comment function?
Until December 2020, anyone could comment publicly under a product review, and sellers used that to answer complaints in the open. Amazon removed the feature for everyone. Today the review list shows reviews and helpful votes — no replies, from sellers or from anyone else.
That is worth internalising, because a large share of the advice still circulating online was written before the change. If a guide tells you to “respond publicly and professionally to every negative review”, it is describing a button that no longer exists on Amazon.
What contact routes are left?
| Route | Who can use it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Brand Registry review contact | Brand owners enrolled in Brand Registry | Templated message to a buyer who left a 1–3 star review on your brand’s product |
| Buyer-Seller Messaging | All sellers | Resolving an order issue — the order, not the review |
| Reply to seller feedback | All sellers | A public reply under seller feedback on your seller profile |
| Reporting the review | All sellers | Reviews that break the Community Guidelines |
The Brand Registry route is the one most sellers don’t know about. Inside Seller Central, brand owners can see critical reviews on their own products and send one of Amazon’s prepared messages — typically a courtesy refund or an offer of customer service. The wording is Amazon’s, not yours, precisely so the contact cannot turn into pressure. Availability varies by marketplace and account, so check whether the tool appears in yours before planning around it.
What is explicitly not allowed?
- Asking for a review to be changed, updated or deleted — even after you have solved the problem, and even if the customer is happy.
- Offering anything in return: a refund conditional on the review, a replacement, a voucher, loyalty points.
- Contacting the reviewer outside Amazon, for example by tracking down an email address or social profile.
- Asking only satisfied customers for reviews, or routing unhappy ones away from the review form.
- Public pressure: naming a reviewer in listing text, A+ content or social media.
These are not grey areas. They sit in Amazon’s review policies, enforcement reaches the account rather than the review, and the damage from a suspension is in a different league from one critical review.
So what should you do with a bad review?
- Decide which system it belongs to. A complaint about the courier or your service in a product review is a reporting case; the same complaint on your feedback page may be removable or strike-through-eligible — see seller feedback removal.
- Solve the order problem through Buyer-Seller Messaging, without mentioning the review. Some customers update their review on their own afterwards. You may not ask them to.
- Report what breaks the rules, with the guideline named and the passage quoted — the method is in how to report a review on Amazon.
- Answer the question publicly where you still can: if several reviews raise the same misunderstanding, address it in the listing, the images, the A+ content and the Q&A. That reaches the next shopper, which is what a public reply used to do.
- Fix the cause when the complaint is fair. It is the only approach that stops the next review.
Does replying to seller feedback still make sense?
Yes, with care. On your seller profile you can post a public reply under a feedback comment, and a short, factual reply reads well to anyone scrolling your profile. Keep it to what happened and how you resolved it, never dispute the customer’s experience, and never ask for the comment to be removed in the reply. If the comment qualifies for removal or a strike-through, request that instead — it is the better outcome and the two routes are not mutually exclusive.
The short version
You cannot argue with a review in public any more. What you can do is remove the ones that break Amazon’s rules, fix the ones that are fair, and answer the underlying question where the next shopper will see it — in the listing, not under the review. If you want to know which of your critical reviews fall into the first group, the free review check maps one ASIN against the guidelines.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still comment under a product review as a brand?
No. Amazon switched off public comments under product reviews at the end of 2020 for all accounts, including brand owners. Brand-registered sellers may instead contact the buyer through Amazon’s own templated tool in Seller Central, and all sellers can reply publicly to seller feedback on their seller profile — but not under a product review.
Is it against the rules to thank a customer for a positive review?
Contacting buyers about reviews at all is the risky part, not the sentiment. Amazon’s policies restrict seller-initiated communication about reviews, and a thank-you message can read as the start of a relationship intended to influence future reviews. Keep Buyer-Seller Messaging for the order itself, and say thank you in the product experience instead.
What if a review contains false claims about my product?
If it breaks the Community Guidelines — for example, it is off-topic, abusive, or from someone with a commercial interest — report it as a guideline case. If it makes false factual statements that damage your business, that is a narrower legal category, and the right route is legal advice rather than a report. Our guide on choosing a service explains where that line sits.
Can I ask a customer to update a review after I fixed the problem?
No. Amazon treats a request to update, change or delete a review as an attempt to influence reviews, even when the problem is genuinely solved and the customer is satisfied. Solve the issue, say nothing about the review, and leave the decision to the customer — many update it on their own.
Does responding to reviews help my ranking?
There is nothing to respond to on Amazon any more, so the question answers itself for product reviews. What does help is reducing the complaints that recur: clearer listing content, better packaging, faster service. Those show up as fewer critical reviews and better conversion, which are the signals Amazon actually reacts to.
Cueneyt has spent years inside Amazon seller accounts — first in account management at SellerVate, now in review removal, with more than 5,000 cases behind him. These guides come out of what actually happens in those cases.
About Starfix.ai: Starfix.ai is a success-based Amazon review removal service. It reports only reviews that break Amazon’s Community Guidelines, through Amazon’s official channels, and charges only for reviews that are actually removed. Whether a review comes down is Amazon’s decision in each case.
Which of your reviews shouldn’t be there?
Paste one ASIN into the free review checker — we come back with how many of your negative reviews qualify.